Looking to the Future

I have a tendency to get very excited about new things.  This can be good, no one can ever accuse me of being apathetic, but often times this sets me up for disappointment.  Recently, I have been planning for the future, for when I go back to the good old U.S. of A.  I've always wanted to do youth ministry and have been able to do a lot here in Peru with some of the missionaries daughters and more recently with some of the girls from Arevalo Church (I've been hesitant to work with them because of my limited Spanish but have just decided I'd rather make a fool of myself than miss this opportunity).  But last week I decided to take a few steps in looking for a job in the US.  I e-mailed Kelly (one of my old girls youth directors) and asked her where she'd found Cornerstone.  Though she said she could not remember, she did give me an awesome website where I could look at ads from churches for ministry opportunities.  I do my first search, only limiting it to the U.S. and start scanning through the list of ads.  The ones in Houston and Katy of course catch my attention first, and on the second page my eyes land on a church that looks familiar.  I click on the link and sure enough, it's one of the churches in my hometown.  I know the assistant pastor and the current youth director and they are looking for a girls youth minister.

Needless to say I got really excited.  There was skipping involved.

After e-mailing said youth director (via facebook, which has been rather weird lately, at least for me) he e-mails me back confirming my question and offering to send an application if I'll send my e-mail address.  Perfect.  The clouds opened up and the angels sang.  Now it's just a waiting game, not to mention one where God is teaching me to trust and to wait patiently.  At this point there is nothing I can do but pray, and if He wants me in this job, then there will be nothing to stop that.  But I WORRY!  I'm in Peru and might not get back until July.  Will this 'perfect job' wait for that?  What if facebook, which won't let me reply to messages at the moment, dropped the one I was able to send and the guy never got it?  What if I just plain don't get it?  It's so perfect!  It's close to my family (something I've really been missing here), it's something I've always wanted to do, and I know people at the church.  Needless to say, the past four or five days have made me a bit nervous.  However, I'm reminded of God's promise to Abraham.  He said that even in his old age, Abraham would have a child through Sarah who was barren.  Though my situation is not nearly as astronomically important as Abraham's, it is still important to me and Abraham's story reminds me that God's plan is perfect, and that all I have to do is trust.  Psalm 46:10 says "Be still and know that I am God."  I need to learn to simply be still, and that no matter what happens, His plans are for the best.

Praying for the President

"Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.  So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgement on themselves."  Romans 12:16

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."  Matthew 22:21

With the inauguration today, my brain has been on the state of our country, of our newly elected president, of FOCA, and most importantly, God's hand in our lives.  I've heard Christians talk about how they believe that Obama is the antichrist, some think he really will do good for the country, and others are simply apathetic.  Now, I don't know if I believe that Obama is the antichrist or an antichrist or anything like that, but I do know what scripture says about our leaders.  They had been put in place by God and we should give them the respect that comes with their office.  More importantly, we should be praying for them.  Being the president, being a leader of any kind, is not an easy job, not on the one leading nor on his family.  So though I do not agree with Obama on the majority of the issues, I will be praying for his salvation, I will be praying that he will make wise decisions, and I will be praying for his family.  This doesn't mean that I won't be praying that some of his decisions (like his promise to deregulate the abortion system) will be stopped, but it does mean that I will honor the man God has put in place just as I tried to honor Bush before him.  It's not an easy thing, but nothing right ever is.  

On another note, a few weeks ago our pastor at Arevalo gave a sermon on Matthew 22.  He paralleled that verse with Genesis 1:27 (God created man in His own image).  He used this parallel to show how as Christians we have the mark of God on us and that as we are to give our taxes to the one whose face is on the coin, we are to also give our lives to the one in whose image we were created.  

Equally Skilled

This is kind of a lazy post today, but this song always gets me, makes me stop and want to worship the God of the universe, who condescended to lower Himself to our level, walk around on this earth for a few years, and then suffer death for us.  It reminds me of how unworthy I am and how great He is.  

Equally Skilled, Jon Foreman

How miserable I am

I feel like a fruit picker who arrived here 

after the harvest

There's nothing here at all

There's nothing at all here that could placate my hunger

The godly people are all gone

There's not one honest soul left alive here on this planet

We're all murderers and thieves

Setting traps here for even our brothers

And both of our hands 

Are equally skilled

At doing evil

Equally skilled

At perverting justice

Both of our hands

Both of our hands

The day of justice comes

And is even now swiftly arriving

Don't trust anyone at all

Not your best friend or even your wife

For the son hates the father

The daughter despises even the mother

Look! Your enemies are right

Right in the room of your very household

And both of their hands are equally skilled

Equally skilled

No, don't gloat over me

For though I fall, though I fall

I will rise again

Though I sit here in darkness

The Lord, the Lord alone

He will be my light.

I will be patient as the Lord

Punishes me for the wrongs I've done against Him

After that He'll take my case

Bringing me to light and to justice

For all I have suffered

And both of His hands 

Are equally skilled

At ruining evil

Equally skilled

At judging the judges

Equally skilled 

At administering justice

Both of His hands

Both of His hands

Are equally skilled

At showing mercy

Equally skilled

At loving the loveless

Equally skilled

At administering justice

Both of His hands

Both of His hands

Peruvian Food Part 2

So I made the palta rellena on Friday, but forgot to take my computer home so I didn't get any pictures.  It was fabulous, though I forgot to cook the carrots and peas... ok, I'll be honest, I wasn't sure I needed to.  It ended up making way more than needed (three avocados makes a ton of food) so next time hopefully it will be better.  I will try and make it again so I can get pictures, but it wasn't very pretty =D

Beach Day

Cebiche - fish soaked in lime and awesomeness.

Me, Gillian, and Rebeca

Julie, Heather, Elva, Rebeca, and Me

Rebeca, Julie, and Heather

Julie

Heather

Patty

Me

From left to right: Nathan, Patty, Rebeca, Me, and Richard.  Huanchaco, Peru.

Peruvian Food Part 1

When I went home over break, my mother asked me to make some Peruvian food.  Unfortunately, I could not as I had never tried making any while I was here.  So my "New Years Resolution" (I don't really believe in those, they never work) is to start learning to make Peruvian food.  Now some of these will be difficult as in the state I don't think we have any aji (and amazing spice the Peruvians use for everything) but I will at least be able to make some version of it with the help of Noemi, Pastor Eduardo's wife and my Spanish teacher:

So tonight, I am attempting Palta Rellena (stuffed avocado).  It's the simplest recipe I could think of, which is good as I am starting on my own.  After my attempt I will show you pictures of my creation.

Ingredients:

- 1 papa (potato)

- zanahoria (carrot) 

-arvejas (green beans)

-mayonesa (mayo)

Instructions (pending, after I actually make it I'll let you know what worked)

Crazy

There comes a point in blog slacking when you realize that it just cannot go on any longer, and tonight was one of those points.  So much went on just last weekend that I am overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to talk about to my three readers.  So I suppose I will start there, the beginning is as good a place to start as any.  

Friday, January 2, 3009, I left the Houston airport for Canada around 8 A.M.  Yes, I went to Canada in order to get to Lima.  Believe it or not, flying to Lima via Canada is a lot less expensive than flying through Atlanta.  Search me.  The flight would have been great, I had a great book to read, a non-smelly person sitting next to me, and a lovely snack of tomato juice, but the flight sort of... got to me.  For those of you at home with weak stomach you will either appreciate this next part or will want to skip it.  I started to feel sick about halfway through the flight and promptly went to the bathroom.  There was little to no color in my face but I could not get my body to 'give up' whatever was in it that was making it feel bad so I went back to my seat, grabbing the trusty barf bag, just in case.  After another ten or so minutes of feeling truly miserable and being unable to focus on my book, I realized, or rather my body realized, that it was time to evacuate.  Desperately, I tried to get out of my seat and make it to the bathroom... wasn't gonna happen.  Thankfully I did have the little bag, and it received into it's arms the tomato juice I had just ingested.    After apologizing to the other passengers I was able to make it to the back and dispose of the said bag and then the nice stewardess gave me some ginger ale.  I felt much better and had no more episodes on that front.

The flight from Canada to Lima was uneventful but nice.  I had both seats to myself, finished my novel that I had bought in the Houston airport (Shameless plug: Harlan Coben, No Second Chances, couldn't put it down), watched an episode of Pushing Daisies (moment of silence for its cancelation), and took a little nap.  My next problem came and baggage claim.  The problem?  No baggage.  I filled out a report with many shed tears (those of you who know me will understand that I unfortunately cry about everything, a habit I'm praying desperately about) and went on to my hotel.  The next day I met up with the team that was coming to visit and put on a camp for the children in Trujillo, got a ride with them to the market, and then went on to the Lima airport to head to Trujillo.  Once in Trujillo I realized that I had no keys and so went to the nearest mall to get on the internet.  I ended up having to buy some clothes (I foolishly had packed no overnight bag) and stayed with a missionary family.  To make a long story short I finally got my bags back on Tuesday (the heavens open and the angels sing) and the rest of the week was uneventful.  I have a three classes (basic conversation, basic 5, and intermediate 6) and I really like the way things are going so far.  God has blessed me this month with sweet students.

Saturday we went to Huanchaco, the local beach.  I started reading The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged and really, really long) and got super sunburned.  No shock there.  I did use sunscreen but unfortunately did not reapply on my back.  We ended the day with cebiche and ice cream and then I went back to SALI to finish lesson planning for the week.  A rather anticlimactic ending to a fun day.

Well, that's it for the update for now!  And for those of you who were wondering, I was in College Station for only a few hours and unfortunately got to see no one!  Missed you Fergusons!   

Blog Slacker

So over my break I did no blogging whatsoever, so this post is merely to say that I will give a full review in the very near future for those of you who have no lives and actually read my blog ;-).  But for now, a quick overview of my two weeks in the U.S. and my trip back to Peru:

1. Lots of amazing food
2. Wonderful family and catching up with friends
3. Twilight three times (yes, I am pathetic)
4. Shopping
5. Surprise Christmas presents
6. Two trips to College Station
7. Harlan Coben - if you like reading and murder mysteries he's fabulous
8. Watching old movies with the fam.
9. Getting sick on the way to Toronto
10. Air Canada losing my bags
11. Air Canada finding my bags!
12. And a partridge in a pair tree...

Obviously the last one was added for effect.  A more thorough post will come.  But for now I have to lesson plan.  It was so good to see those of you I got to see over Christmas and hope to see the rest when I come back!